Nigerians have been advised to institutionalize the culture of sound democratization within and outside functional party system
in order to safeguard the survival of representational civil governance.
At a town hall discussion held to commemorate the election of June 12, 1993, adjudged to be the freest and fairest in post independent Nigeria, at the International and Cultural Center, The Dome, Akure, Ondo State, the panel of three discussants at the event, Mr. Dare Babarinsa, journalist and historian, Prof. Bayo Aborisade , teacher of English and Communications and Commrade Ifeanyi Odili of Committee for the Defense of Human Rights all agreed that commitment to rule law was the only panacea that could prevent a bloody revolution in a foreseeable Nigeria.
Recreating the events that led to the making of June 12, 1993 as a historic watershed which later produced the late accomplished businessmen, Chief Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola as the ultimate Icon of democracy and Civil governance, Mr. Babarinsa, disclosed that assurances served by the then military leader General Badamasi Ibrahim Babangida encouraged many Nigerians.
Babarinsa said that he first came to Akure as the Chief Correspondent of Abiola’s Concord newspaper in 1983, the year the business mogul announced to all Nigerians that he had left politics for good.
However, he said that as one of the more than twenty journalists who accompanied Abiola to Coree Island, Senegal in 1992, he approached M.K.O. Abiola and asked if he was going to run for the president and that the response was negative .
The journalist said that a new twist came after Abiola was given a tour of the presidency by IBB who later advised him to run and that he would be the future occupier of the most coveted office in the land. And Abiola changed his mind. But Babangida never noted to keep his words, there was no honour.
Prof. Aborisade recalled the place of Ondo and the present Ekiti State, as the cradle and the epicenter of the struggle to actualize the mandate given by Nigerians to Abiola. He said several senior citizens were harassed, hounded and many killed by the military junta.
He said the sanctuary provided by Bishop Emmanuel Bolanle Gbonigi was an unknown hideout for the foot soldiers of democracy.
Prof. Aborisade said that his aged mother was traumatized as he and his brother Femi, were constantly held and locked up by the military.
The narratives from Commrade Ifeayi Odili was revealing and hear-touching. His wife walked away and his children were left to scavenge for food, just three days after the young activist was thrown into captivity. He said he has never heard till date from the wife.
Odili said that Abiola was lackluster on the struggle by not seizing the opportunity created by the rulings of Justice Dolapo Akinsanya, who delegitimized the interim administration of Ernest Shonekan.
He said there was no question that Abiola would have won the day if he had declared himself president immediately the court gave the ruling. He shocked the audience by saying that the Epetedo declaration where Abiola now claimed the mandate was a mutiny. He said the lesson for Nigerians is that no slacker should aspire to lead.
There were tongue wagging revelations on how the underground struggle was kept alive by National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the bombing of Dr. Akingba’s house where Radio Kudirat was initially mounted. The Fasoranti, Soyinka, Fayemi, Ajasin, Rewane, Dan Suleiman, Olu Falae e.t.al involvement.
The chairman of the occasion, Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, was represented by Prince Olu Adegboro, who said that Nigerians must never allowed a repeat of such sour history.